Panoptic Enterprises' FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

ACTION: Interim Rule

SYNOPSIS: The Federal Acquisition Secretariat is issuing FAC 2001-20 amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the special emergency procurement authorities of Section 1443 of Public Law 108-136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Section 1443 is in Title XIV of Public Law 108-136. Title XIV is more commonly known as the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003, or "SARA".

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Section 1443, Special Emergency Procurement Authority, provides that, for all acquisitions that support a contingency operation or facilitate the defense against or recovery from nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack against the United States:

The micro-purchase threshold is increased from $2,500 to $15,000;

The simplified acquisition threshold is increased from $100,000 to $250,000 when the contract is to be awarded and performed inside the United States, and to $500,000 for contracts to be awarded and performed outside the United States;

Such acquisitions are considered to be for commercial items, regardless of dollar amount (however, acquisitions for supplies or services covered by Section 1443 that are in excess of $15,000,000 and are awarded on a sole source basis are not exempt from cost or pricing data requirements (see FAR Subpart 15.4, Contract Pricing), or the Cost Accounting Standards (see Chapter 99 of Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations and FAR Part 30, Cost Accounting Standards Administration)); and

The limitation on the authority in FAR Subpart 13.5, Test Program for Certain Commercial Items, for contracting officers to use FAR Part 13 simplified acquisition procedures when acquiring commercial items is increased from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000.

The following FAR sections are amended to reflect these changes:

The definitions of "micro-purchase threshold" and "simplified acquisition threshold" in FAR 2.101, Definitions.